The Hammers finished their USA Preseason Tour on Wednesday, flying back to London. During the 12-day trip, West Ham lost 3-0 to the Seattle Sounders, and drew 2-2 against the North Carolina RailHawks. Despite the results, the tour offered training for the squad, and game time, especially for the youth stars along on the trip.
“The whole tour has been important for us. It has been more like a proper pre-season for me, because we wanted the good facilities to train. We didn’t want too much travelling,” Slaven Bilic said following Tuesday’s RailHawks match.
“When I heard about the possibility to go to the States, it was tempting but on the other hand, we didn’t want to travel too much and get tired. But it has been good, especially because of the facilities we’ve had and the hospitality of the people.”
In Seattle, West Ham trained at the state-of-the-art Seahawks’ Virginia Mason Athletic Center, and in Cary, North Carolina, the Hammers trained at the RailHawks’ WakeMed Soccer Park.
Mark Noble enjoyed the spectacle playing in front of 10,125 fans in North Carolina – a sellout and a record number for a RailHawks game. A pregame five-plane flyover during the National Anthem, and a post-game fireworks display ended the Hammers’ stay in America.
“It’s been great, we’ve enjoyed our stay, it’s a little bit tough to leave, but preseason goes on,” Noble said. “It was a great occasion. The fans got to see some goals, which I think is good, and we gained fitness out there.”
Bilic was of the same mind as Noble after the RailHawks draw. “It was a good game – a friendly with a high intensity. It was a good atmosphere and we enjoyed it. It was a good test.
“It is still early for us, of course. The legs are heavy for the players. These tests are more individual tests, because the team that played in the first half have hardly played together all at the same time. It was a really good individual test.”
Sofiane Feghouli impressed in Seattle and North Carolina, and earned his first assist with the Hammers against the RailHawks. Despite limited training with his new teammates, the Algerian winger found Andy Carroll with a low cross for the second goal of the game.
“I said before that the match against Seattle came way too early after just two or three days training,” Bilic said. “For [North Carolina], we were more on a level to play a competitive game. The result is always important, don’t get me wrong, but it was not the most important thing today.”
A blemish on the success of the trip was the injury to West Ham defender Doneil Henry on Tuesday night, but no word has been officially released regarding the severity of the injury.
RailHawks manager Colin Clarke was very familiar with West Ham United prior to playing the Hammers on Tuesday. The former Northern Ireland and Southampton striker spoke following the 2-2 draw in Cary, North Carolina about West Ham, and what it meant for the RailHawks, hosting their first Premier League club.
“It’s historic, first time ever a Premier League club here, and not one that’s from the bottom end of the table – and no disrespect to them – but West Ham is got a storied history, all the way back to ’66 and the World Cup,” Clarke said. “Players, managers, they had it all. Give it to England and they end up winning the World Cup.”
Clarke began his career in the Ipswich Town academy, and knew well West Ham’s youth system. Clarke went on to play around England, notably with Bournemouth, Southampton, Queens Park Rangers and Portsmouth. Clarke scored 13 international goals with Northern Ireland and 134 goals in 398 career appearances.
“One of the first clubs to start to develop youth players, you go back through that system, I was lucky enough to grow up and play there at the other one at the time, which was Ipswich Town, which had a great youth system as well as West Ham.”
Clarke believed the Hammers were one of the most impressive stories out of the Premier League last season, aside from Leicester City’s Title-winning season.
“They’ve been around a long time, they’ve developed players, and they had a great season last year. Leicester had a very good season, but West Ham climbed up the table, finished seventh, could’ve been two or three places higher,” Clarke said.
“They’re now going into a new stadium, and they’ve got a good nucleus of a team. More funds on seats means more money and revenue to go out and buy better players, so it’s only going to move forward for them here on, and obviously [Slaven Bilic] has done a great job with that.”
Clarke began his coaching career in 1998 with the Richmond Kickers, and has been around North American soccer ever since. He has managed the RailHawks since 2011.
